Tuesday, March 5, 2013

China Glaze Budding Romance + a heads up on OPI at Ulta

One simultaneously hilarious and annoying part of the nail polish world is the dramz that comes with it. This time, the wheel landed on two of our favorite mainstream brands.

The first issue regards a China Glaze contractor, shopping networks and copyright infringement. If you read Fashion Polish and Vampy Varnish, then you know. (If not, click those links. They'll take you to the appropriate posts.) Whatever your feelings are about those blogsand/or bloggers, you should read those posts and do with that information what you will. Apparently this did not stop me from getting my picks from the Avant Garden collection, but I may hold off on purchasing future collections. We'll see. I also have never been so glad to be a little league blogger before. Or maybe I exaggerate. Am I tee ball?

The second issue concerns OPI. Starting this year, OPI raised its price point fifty cents from $8.50 a polish to $9.00. That was kind of ridiculous to me, because remember when Sephora by OPIs cost that much? Anyway, at $9, it was nice to have the option to use a coupon at Ulta. Unfortunately, starting March 10 (this Sunday), this will no longer be the case.

Snapped quickly during an Ulta trip last weekend

I guess this means OPI will be ~prestige~ now? I love OPI -- it was the first brand I really loved when I got into polish -- but this makes me a little sad, ngl.

Anyway, print ALL THE COUPONS and then go buy some OPIs before Sunday. Then find a dusty or two to frequent, look for a reputable e-tailer, or ask your pro friends to help you make the desired acquisitions to your collection. Against my better judgment, I did my share of panic hauling over the weekend, and looking at my bank account this morning ... oy.

After running some errands on Friday, Tara and I hit up our favorite Sally's, where we found China Glaze was on sale, two for $11. (Not as good as the two for $10 sales they've had in the past, but ... recession.) This was the first one I grabby handsed. I was so overwhelmed by awesomeness that I didn't know what to wear when we got home, so Tara chose this for me. Good job, T. Good job.

Part of the reason I'm not fond of blogging polishes from new/current collections is because I feel the internet is saturated with those swatches when they first come out, and do we really need one more? However, when it comes to Budding Romance, I say YES.

Three coats with SV.

The first four pictures (including the one above) are the most accurate.

BF: "It's goose turd green!"

Yeah, okay. But look at this murky olive jelly goodness! In case you're wondering if this is a dupe for RBL No More War, it's not -- my bottle is lost somewhere in the abyss that is my room, but rest assured ... NMW is more brown. I really like this way this looks on me.

I've heard some complaints about the formula on this one. I get that it's no Essie, but if you swipe your brush against the side of the bottle, it's okay. Wait in between coats so you don't get pooling or bald spots. This dried super quickly with SV. I had mild tip wear after a couple of days, but I was also pretty ruthless with my hands over the weekend, washing dishes and scrubbing out an apple tannin stain on one of my sweaters (boo).

A couple of Sallys I stopped at over the weekend didn't have their Avant Garden displays up, and yours might not, but be sure to check back so you can scoop this one up when they do! Again, I think they have China Glaze on sale this month with two for $11, which isn't a bad deal if you need instant gratification and aren't willing to pay shipping online. --That's all IF you still feel like throwing down for ChG, at least.

Questions, comments, concerns re: China Glaze, Budding Romance, fugly colors, nail polish dramz or this OPI/Ulta coupon sadness? I will say this for Avant Garden -- the colors are pretty great. Aside from four polishes, I more or less forgot last spring's Electropop collection even happened. What are your Avant Garden picks? If you tell me you don't have any, YOU ARE LYING.

ughh i'm SO sad to read all those stories about china glaze!!! it's been my favorite brand ever since i got into polish several years ago. i have a lot of china glaze, so i will probably stop supporting them in the future. bloggers have been making a lot of noise lately and it is a HUGE mistake imo to overlook them in any industry :/on a side note, im so glad i recently found a supply store that carries opi for 5.50 each! i hardly purchase polishes at full price, so the price increase is def a turn off for me.

aaaannyyhow, i love your swatch of budding romance. i haven't gotten into ugly/pretty colors yet, but im definitely intrigued by them (:

My answer (to everything) is this: Let's see how this plays out. For now, I'm just going to scoop up everything that I wasn't able to get before. While I do think bloggers carry tremendous influence, I don't know if it's enough to get companies to change the way they do things! I really want to say this was a problem with the contractor and not ChG specifically, but I do wonder if it could have been handled better.

I'm with you on the supply store thing -- I've already started doing some scouting over the weekend, haha.

Thank you! Oh, just wear them already. They would look SO GOOD on you. <3

Waiitttt you're in VA? If you're from NoVA, there's a FANTASTIC nail supply in PGCo, MD, that might be of interest to you! I dunno whether or not you've already heard of it, but it's Nasia Nail Supply in Hyattsville, and SO much cheaper. $3 Essie & $4 OPI, whaaaaat. Ulta's being such a PITA lately, they're not worth the trouble to me, lol.

And I gotta say, Budding Romance is not my kind of color, but it looks SO good on you!! I suppose I am a lying liar but the Avant Garden collection didn't really pique my interest. :P

I actually gave up buying China GLaze-so I have no avant garde picks and I'm not lying! HEHE!-That turd color reminds me of westside warrior or trendsetter-I wonder if they are the brainchild of this one? I think that's crap that Ulta is doing that-I mean really? Why have an ULTA coupon if there are restrictions????? Makes me sad!

It's in the same vein as those two, all of which were pretty unorthodox choices for a mainstream company, so I have to give them props for that. Yeah, the OPI/Ulta coupon issue makes me a sad panda, but at least there are other retail alternatives (supply stores, online).

Thank you for checking out my little nail blog! I do read and appreciate your comments and/or feedback, although it might take me a few days to get back to you. Time-sensitive inquiries should be directed to my e-mail address (rachswatched@gmail).

Please be polite and respectful when responding to others' comments in a post; if you are rude, I will delete your comment and Hannibal Lecter will eat you. Please don't leave spam comments with blog links -- it's tacky and I don't do it. Neither should you.

let's talk STUFF!

STUFF about me ...

A nail diary powered by Droid pictures, commentary, and LOTS of pop culture since July 2011.

I get really excited about random things and I want you to get excited, too! I talk too much, am a compulsive three-coater and one of the most atypical, ridiculous Virgos you will ever meet. Sterling Meowlory isn't my cat.